seating depth for Double End Wadcutters

[dangerranger]

With this style bullet is there any advantage to seating the bullet down flush with the case mouth? or with a little lead showing is OK? Ive never loaded them before and had not given any thought to it till I wanted to load some. Thanks DR

[Old44]

I shoot two styles of WCs. One has a crimping groove about 1/16" from the end, this I seat with the 1/16" sticking out.
The other is a DEWC with no groove and is seated flush.

Another good reason for consistent case length, getting a proper crimp.

[BruceB]

In the absence of a crimping groove, it's logical to use the forward bevel on the bullet to accept whatever crimp is to be applied.

The only pistol for which I load wadcutters is the S&W Model 52, their target-model .38 Special autoloader. This pistol REQUIRES flush-seated wadcutters; there's no room in the magazine for any bullet protrusion whatever.

The bullet I use is the Lyman 35863, which is a double-ended wadcutter with a bevel at each end. Either a light roll crimp or moderate taper crimp will suffice. It's not terribly important in the Model 52, because the pistol will feed FIRED BRASS flawlessly!

In a revolver, I would still be inclined to flush-seat a double-ended wadcutter, with a more-substantial roll crimp to keep those bullets in place under the recoil forces. Of course, in such a firearm one of the lube grooves could be used for crimping, but I think that the beveled ends would still be more satisfactory for the purpose.

[Char-Gar]

Yep..BruceB nailed it.

[runfiverun]

depending on the brass I wouldn't load that deep they used to make special brass with parallel walls all the way to the base specifically for wad cutters. [this is what made the factory rounds so special]
using normal brass will squeeze the base of the boolit and you can figure it out from there.
i'd take a look at whether the brass is tapered or not and whether the cylinder will allow you to seat them out if it will i'd go that route and taper crimp.
okay I do go that route and it works for me.

[BruceB]

Double-ended wadcutters are much shorter than the factory hollow-base types. This means that the cast double-ended wadcutter doesn't extend as deeply into the case as does the factory bullet of the same nominal weight (about 148 grains, in the case of the factory bullet).

This also means that the cast wadcutter doesn't encounter much of that thicker area of the case.

I've loaded almost a quarter-million rounds of my 35863 cast wadcutters in almost any sort of .38 brass that came along, and even on a machine rest, there wasn't any notable difference between the "MATCH" brass and the regular stuff. I did keep cases separated by headstamp.

The .38 Special-chambered target pistols can be rather sensitive. My wife's M52 required 2.9 grains of Bullseye to function reliably. My M52 worked fine with the "normal" 2.7 grains. If we switched guns, HER M52 worked fine with my loads in my hands, and MY M52 needed HER loads to work reliably for her. This was purely a reflection of the difference in body mass having its effect on the recoil-operated pistols, but it was interesting. Then too, we had to keep the two loads separated, although I had the option of using "her" loads..... not the reverse, however.

Our pair of M52s are probably the most reliable semi-auto pistols we've owned, and they are wickedly accurate in the bargain. They are the 52-1 version, and we bought them together in 1970. Serial numbers are only about 300 apart (1012xx and 1015xx). After over 140,000 rounds EACH, they still shoot reliably and VERY accurately. One of our better buys, I do believe.

[dangerranger]

These are going in a revolver, so no feeding issues. I seated a couple flush, and a couple with about 1/8" of lead showing. Both seated fine with out any case bulges. Ill shoot those and see if theres any differance in the way they shoot, but other than that I like the way they look better with some lead showing. Thanks all! DR

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I used regular 38 special brass in my 52 with H&G #251, a DE full wadcutter, seated flush with the case mouth. I sized the bullets at .357. I deviated from this only when I used military 38 special cases (once fired) because the brass was thicker; I sized bullets at .356 and still got good accuracy. Lubing was in one groove only. A number of powder work well in the 52. I wound up settling on 2.5-2.6 grains of 700x with the required deep seating. For reasons unknown I got better accuracy with brass cases; nickel plated cases did not do as well. Strange, but no sense in arguing. The 52 was, and is the most accurate handgun I own(ed) and I never complained about weighing individual bullets or powder charges for it. When I went to the BE line I knew what I was shooting and sometimes it really made the difference. LLS